At these words the Seven were suddenly transformed into images ofwood, though they still lost nothing of their former outline; and avoice was heard saying:
"Burn the wood, Ulenspiegel."
And Ulenspiegel turned towards the will-o'-the-wisps:
"You that are made of fire, do your office."
And the wisps thronged around the seven images, which straightwayburst into flame and were reduced to ashes.
And from the ashes there flowed a river of blood.
But out of the ashes arose now seven other figures, and the first said:
"Once I was called Pride. But now my name is Nobility."
And the rest spake after the same fashion, and Nele and Ulenspiegelsaw how Economy came forth from Avarice; Vivacity from Anger; HealthyAppetite from Gluttony; Emulation from Envy; and from Idleness theDreams of poets and wise men. And Luxury, on her goat, was nowtransformed into the likeness of a beautiful woman, and her namewas Love.
And all around them danced the will-o'-the-wisps most joyously. Andthereafter did Ulenspiegel and Nele begin to hear a thousand voices asof hidden men and women, that spake with a sonorous, clicking sound,like that of castanets, and thus sang they:
When over the earth and over the sea These Seven transformed shall reign, Mortals lift up your heads again, For happy the world shall be!
And Ulenspiegel said: "These spirits are making mock of us."
And a powerful hand seized Nele by the arm, and threw her away intothe void. And the Spirits sang:
When the North Shall kiss the West Then shall be the end of ruin. Find the Cincture.
"Alas!" cried Ulenspiegel. "North, West, Cincture! You speak inriddles, Sir Spirits!"
But they went on with their singing and chattering:
The North is the Netherland, Belgium is the West. Cincture is friendship, Cincture is Alliance.
"Now you are talking sense, Sir Spirits," said Ulenspiegel.
And yet again they sang:
The Cincture, little man, 'Twixt Holland and Belgium-- Firm Alliance, And beautiful Friendship.
Alliance of Counsel, Alliance of Action, By death By blood, Were it not For the Scheldt, Little man, for the Scheldt.
"Alas!" said Ulenspiegel, "such is our life! Tears of man and laughterof destiny!"
And again the Spirits repeated their rune, and their voices were likethe clicking of castanets.
Alliance by blood And by death Were it not For the Scheldt.
And a strong hand took hold of Ulenspiegel and threw him into the void.
XXXV
As she fell, Nele rubbed her eyes but she could see nothing save thesun that was rising, wreathed in a golden mist. And then the tips ofthe grass all golden too, in that radiance which was soon to tingewith gold the plumage of the sea-gulls who slept as yet, but wereabout to awaken.
Nele looked downwards at herself, and seeing that she was naked sheput on her clothes with all haste. Then it was that she noticed thebody of Ulenspiegel where it lay there, naked also, and him also shecovered with his clothes. He seemed to be still asleep and she gavehim a shake, but he remained quite motionless like one dead. Then wasNele seized with fear. "Have I killed him?" she cried. "Have I killedmy love with this balm of vision? Would that I too might die! Ah,Tyl, wake up! But he is as cold as marble!"
Ulenspiegel did not awake, and two nights passed and a day, and Nelestill watched by his side in a fever of grief and fear.
It was at the dawn of the second day of her vigil that Nele heard thesound of a little bell in the distance, and saw presently a peasantapproaching with a shovel in his hand. Behind him came a burgomasterwith two aldermen carrying candles, and then the cure of Stavenissewith a beadle holding a parasol over his head. It appeared that theywere going to administer the Holy Sacrament of Unction to one Jacobsen,a brave Beggarman, who had adopted the new religion by compulsion, butbeing about to die had returned to the bosom of the Holy Roman Church.
When they came opposite to Nele they found her still crying, andthey saw the body of Ulenspiegel laid out on the grass in front ofher, covered with clothes. Nele fell upon her knees in front of thelittle procession.
"My girl," said the burgomaster, "what are you doing by this corpse?"
Without daring to raise her eyes, Nele made answer:
"I am praying for the soul of my beloved, he that has fallen dead asif struck by lightning. I am alone now, and I am fain to die."
But already the cure was puffing with pleasure.
"Ulenspiegel the Beggarman dead!" he cried. "Praise be to God! Be quickthere, peasant, and dig a grave, and take his clothes off before youbury him."
"No," said Nele, getting up from the ground. "No, you shall not takehis clothes, he would be cold there in the cold earth."
"Quick!" cried the cure, addressing himself again to the peasant withthe shovel.
"You may bury him," said Nele, all in tears. "I give you leave; forthis sand is full of lime, so that his body will keep for ever wholeand beautiful, the body of my beloved."
And half mad with anguish as she was, Nele bent over the body ofUlenspiegel, kissing him through her tears.
Now the burgomaster, the aldermen, and even the peasant had compassionon the girl, but not so the cure, who ceased not to cry out mostjoyfully: "The great Beggarman is dead! God be praised!"
Then the peasant dug the grave, and Ulenspiegel was placed therein,and covered all over with sand.
And over the grave the cure said the prayers for the dead, and theothers knelt all round. Suddenly there was a great commotion in thesand, and Ulenspiegel arose, sneezing and shaking the sand from hishair, and he seized the cure by the throat.
"Inquisitor!" he cried. "I was asleep, and you buried me alive! Whereis Nele? Have you buried her also? Who are you?"
The cure began to cry out in terror:
"The great Beggarman returns to this world! Lord God have mercy onmy soul!"
And away he fled like a stag before the hounds.
Nele came to Ulenspiegel: "Kiss me, dearest," she said.
Then Ulenspiegel looked about him once more. The two peasants hadrun off like the cure, and that they might run the faster they hadthrown to the ground both shovel and parasol. As for the burgomasterand the aldermen, they lay groaning on the grass, stopping up theirears in their fright.
Ulenspiegel went to them and gave them a good shaking.
"Think you that they can be buried in the ground," he asked them,"Ulenspiegel and Nele? Nele that is the heart of our Mother Flanders,and Ulenspiegel that is her soul? She can sleep too, forsooth, butdie--never! Come, Nele."
And they twain departed, Ulenspiegel singing his sixth song. But noman knoweth where he sang his last.
NOTE
[1] The Author's debt to such sources is especially noticeable inchapters xii, xxiv, xxvi, xxx, and xxxii of the First Book.
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